Back in the wooded lot...

I  haven't posted about the wooded lot for a while. Things were pretty quiet for a long time but now that it's turned cold, the birds and beasties are coming around. The main attraction seems to be the pan of water I set out every day. The squirrels, a large variety of birds and the four turkey boys come around to quench their thirst.

I recently started getting deer coming at night for a drink. I had a lot of family visiting over the Thanksgiving weekend and my grandson and three great-grands were delighted when three deer showed up outside my bedroom window in the early evening. There is a light on the side of the building so they were clearly visible.

                                          (Borrowed image)
So far I've only been putting out birdseed and bread or fruit scraps. With the loss of the bread thrift store where we were buying a trunk-full of stale bread for $5, I'm not sure how I'll feed them over the winter. I really hope I'll locate another resource somewhere soon.

                                        (Borrowed image)
Once we get some snow, the animals won't need the water anymore. Right now, with everything so dry there is a constant stream of birds and animals drinking at the water pan. I'm using the bottom tray from a large flower pot.

Sometimes I can hardly believe how very lucky I am to have all this wonderful wildlife right outside my window! 

Meeting the Rhode Island neighbor

I had to take the car in for an oil change this morning. Coming back up the street, I saw that my neighbor lady was working on a flower bed next to the curb. Also digging around in the flower bed were two industrious chickens.

                                    (Borrowed image)
I knew there were chickens living over there on the other side of the wooded lot because I could sometimes hear them clucking. I really wanted to meet them, so I stopped the car and jumped out to get a closer look. The owner, Catherine, was happy to share her love of the little assistant gardeners. The soil she had turned over was being meticulously inspected at close range by the pair. One was a Rhode Island Red and the other name I forget, but it was a pretty golden color with black specks on the head and shoulders.

After a few minutes, the golden bird suddenly turned around and started marching back to the coop behind the house. Catherine said, "I think she's probably going to lay an egg." Sure enough, several moments later, the successful hen started cackling loudly as if announcing her accomplishment. ( She said that with her three hens she gets two or three eggs a day.)

We finally had a sunny day today. A doe crossed the lawn past our patio this afternoon and the four bachelor turkeys came by. Breeding season is over so their heads are no longer bright red and their snoods have shrunk. Most noticeably, they don't gobble anymore. I haven't seen any of the seven female turkeys for over a month. They are safely hidden away somewhere. Maybe they're all mommies by now.

Just another stupid Sunday

I'm really mad at myself today. I've been volunteering at a Specialty Clinic for Regions Hospital for five years. They had a Volunteer Recognition brunch today at noon at a very nice restaurant I could never afford. (A New Orleans Jazz Brunch, no less!) I had been looking forward to it for weeks and then spaced it out until 1:00. I've been torturing myself all day for being so stupid.

Sometimes I blame these lapses on having worked so many years in an office job that required constant multitasking. I find it hard to focus on one thing. I'm still mentally working on several things at any one time so I never make much progress. Of course, a lot of people my age call it "a senior moment" or Halfs-heimers"
or "Olds-heimers"--or even "a brain fart"! Whatever the cause, I'm terribly disappointed.

I've been having a turkey or two coming by for a handout every once in a while. They don't hang around. Jan who blogs at Revising Life informs me that a bunch of turkeys is called a gang or a rafter. I feel kinda silly for never looking it up myself.

I also got a comment about working with Wildlife Rehab from Susan who blogs at My Mother's Apron Strings. She says, "We took a Canadian Goose that lived on our pond to one in Connecticut--she had a dislocated wing (probably from a snapping turtle).  After two days, she escaped and walked twelve miles back to our pond. It took her two weeks but she wasn't about to be kept away from her new goslings!"
Isn't that an amazing story? It really warms my heart.

                                 (Borrowed image)

Here's a salute to all the wonderful men and women who rush in whenever there's a catastrophe. They are true heroes! (My granddaughter is married to a policeman and my grandson is married to an EMT.)

Keeping busy is good for you!

When folks tell you that you're just as busy after you retire as you were before, they aren't kidding! You feel like you have lots of free time so you gradually take on more things to do until suddenly you start feeling overloaded. But then, you just carry on.

Last Wednesday, the entire turkey troup suddenly showed up in the wooded lot looking for food. I raced out with the goodies and they roosted overnight in the big cottonwood tree. They left the next morning and haven't been back since. I was so very happy and relieved to see they were all together and doing fine. They really brightened up a boring winter and gave me a lot of joy--not to mention blogging topics!

I have signed up to volunteer with the local Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. They work with sick and injured birds and animals to return them to the wild. I have orientation training next week and it appears I'll be working with baby birds. Maybe I'll even wind up with young turkeys or wood ducks!  

                 (Borrowed from Google images, as always!)

Life without turkeys

I haven't seen my turkey troup for a full week. They disappeared into thin air and I miss them.

The odd thing is that they left the day after I finished reading "Illumination in the Flatwoods" by Joe Hutto. Hutto is a naturalist who spent a year living with a flock of imprinted turkeys. He hatched them and lovingly "mothered" them all day, every day until they grew up and moved on.

I first learned about Hutto's experience from a PBS Nature series documentary called "My Life as a Turkey". I totally identified with his affection for the big birds and their fascinating day-to-day experiences in the Florida Flatwoods.

I'm so thankful that I had the benefit of his knowledge when they left. He relates how abruptly the flock's behavior can suddenly change. I'm trying to hold onto the belief that they just had the urge to move on.

I don't mind not having to keep up with feeding them at dawn and dusk each day, but I worry that they might not be getting enough to eat wherever they are. I also worry that something awful happened to scare them away.

So, I keep waiting for them to come back. Whenever I go outside, I look for their tracks in the new-fallen snow. And I miss them.

(I debated whether my turkeys form a troup or a troop. I looked it up and troop refers to soldiers or Scouts and troup refers to a group of entertainers, so actually neither term applies.)

I'm feeling kinda silly

Know your Turkey Parts--A primer on snoods.

I recently posted about four unknown tom turkeys showing up in the wooded lot. I was basing my identification on the fact that the toms all had long red snoods hanging beside their beaks as they paraded around in full display.

It turns out they were just the young "jakes" of the resident tribe. I didn't recognize them because the young males normally have just a short protrusion on top of their beak.

I have learned that when the male turkeys (also called gobblers) start displaying their tail feathers and dancing around, the protrusion becomes engorged and grows longer. According to a university study, females prefer males with a longer snood so it's an advantage for mating and indicates good health.

However, there are other kinds of snoods. I can remember my mom wearing one back in the 40's. They looked like this:

Now there are other varieties of headgear with the same name.

 

Modern snood

                                                
                  That concludes our snood lesson for today.     

Turkey tribe news

Life seems to be pretty routine in the wooded lot. I go out and feed the eleven turkeys at sunrise when they descend from the top of the cottonwood tree. They make little clucking sounds when they see me come out of the building carrying the big black bowl of food. I've been giving them a mixture of cracked corn (I just bought two more 50-pound bags) bird seed and bread crumbs twice a day. I occasionally add some oats, raisins or chopped apple.

I thought my little flock was all the turkeys in the area. Yesterday afternoon, four older tom turkeys showed up while they were gone. The toms were earnestly displaying their tails and doing a dance as they circled each other. They would stop all at once, stretch their necks out and gobble furiously and then resume the dance.It's really funny to watch. After half an hour, they all left. They worry me because I know they can be mean.

(Older tom turkeys have a long fleshy flap called a snood in addition to the bright red wattle. Young toms just have a small protrusion. Google image)

The regular flock consists of six females and four young males plus Priscilla, the small female who joined the flock late in the fall. The young males will do some displaying off and on. They flip up their tails and spread their wings and dance in a circle. They even do it on the most bitter cold mornings! The six females just roost in the branches of the fallen tree with their backs turned toward them, conspicuously ignoring them. Priscilla always roosts by herself on a fallen tree farther away. 

                                      (Image from Google)
I wonder what will happen when Spring comes and all those randy males are looking for mates. I hope they all go off into the woods to raise their families. I sometimes think that I may have gotten myself into a real pickle if they all want to come back next fall.

But then again, I think about Priscilla and maybe by next fall she will have her own little flock and won't be the outsider anymore.

Another turkey tale

Yesterday,  it was bitter cold again and the turkeys were all roosting on the branches of a felled tree near the feeding area. They conserve heat and energy that way.

I noticed one big tom suddenly become alert and crane his neck around. Seconds later, the entire bunch simultaneously popped up and jumped to the ground. They were all craning their necks and looking up. When I looked up to see what was causing this alarm, I saw a large hawk perched up at the top of the cottonwood tree. On either side of the hawk were crows loudly cussing out the intruder. This angry cawing of the crows is what tipped off the turkeys to the hawk's presence.

The hawk was no threat to the turkeys who are several times bigger than it is. Yet, they were greatly upset by having it sitting up in their tree. I gave some thought to why they were so threatened and constructed what I think is their history.

When I first spotted them last June, there were nine newly-hatched poults with the mother. She was cautious and I rarely saw them until later in the summer when there were two hens with a combined flock of twelve chicks. When the chicks were all mature, I couldn't tell the mothers from the rest anymore. By early fall, there was only a total of ten in the flock--two hens and eight young.

In late November another undersized hen suddenly appeared, apparently from another flock. This increased their total to eleven. She had an injured leg and always trailed behind the rest as they moved around the neighborhood. Happily, she recovered and walks fine but she's still smaller than the rest of them. It seems that while she's tolerated, she is not fully integrated into the flock.

When I consider all the chicks that went missing over the summer, it seems likely that all of the resident turkeys lost siblings or chicks to hawks and other predators. Their instincts tell them to beware of hawks and that fear kicks in whenever a hawk appears. It will stand them in good stead when they start their own families in the spring.

All photos from google images. If you care to read my earlier posts about the turkeys, just click on the label "Turkeys" below and they will come up in reverse order.

Turkeys in the wooded lot (again)

I have been in a winter slump lately and haven't been able to motivate myself to blog. I've posted a lot about the flock of wild turkeys that I've been feeding and observing. I have been wary of becoming too tiresome on the subject. However, it keeps coming up again.

Several weeks ago, a guy who lives four doors down from me in the same complex got mad about it. He came banging on my bedroom window in the early morning and proceeded to yell at me about turkeys (defecating) on his patio. I'm feeding them on the opposite side of the building from him in the wooded lot which belongs to the city. 

It's been terribly upsetting. If he'd approached me in a civilized manner it might not have been so bad. As it is, I feel vulnerable and threatened by his outrageous behavior. I contacted the condo association management company about it but nothing has been done so far. This grumpy 55-year-old neighbor lives alone ever since his girlfriend left him because of his bad temper. 













The eleven turkeys keep roosting up in the huge cottonwood tree in the wooded lot every wintry night. Last night it was 0 degrees Fahrenheit and very windy. They flew up to the top of the tree at sunset as usual. During the night, I could see the branches swaying in the wind as they rode it out. I feel so bad for them in this nasty weather that it would be terribly cruel to stop feeding them. 

I have not had a problem with turkeys using my patio as a toilet, but maybe it's a courtesy for all the tasty cracked corn and bread crumbs!                          (All photos from Google images)

Good Grief! Christmas is coming!

I just realized that our family Christmas get-together is in two weeks. All I've done so far is to set out the little Charlie Brown Christmas tree and buy some calendars. Not a great start!

We got an entire foot of snow yesterday so we're holing up until all the streets are cleared.  While the fluffy white snow makes it very "Christmassy" outside, I'm really feeling bad for the turkeys. Their whole world has turned upside down. They were hatched back in June and grew up over a long, hot summer. When fall came, it cooled down but there was still plenty of foraging and food to be found. This morning, the food I threw out for them was eaten quickly and some of it disappeared into the snow. Confused, they would scratch with their scrawny Tyrannosaurus Rex toes, but it just moved the snow around.

              (Turkeys trying to find the food buried in the snow this morning.)
The flock moved on plowing swaths though the snow as they looked for food on neighbor's patios. In desperation, they ate snow. After a time they went up on the slope and just hunkered down trying to warm up. No doubt, eating the cold snow gave them chills and stomach pains. After a long rest they moved on. I'm waiting for them to come back and make me feel better about their miserable lot.

I might getting a little too obsessed over them--God knows there are a lot bigger things to worry about--but these turkeys are right here outside my window. I can hear them making their little clucking sounds as they look for food and I'm not the sort of person who can just look away.

Of Twinkies and hungry turkeys

Recently the Hostess Baking Company went bankrupt and closed. It made the national news mostly because they made the iconic Twinkies. I never bought any Hostess products except for an occasional Snowball so I didn't really give a care until today. But today, it suddenly hit home.

We make a trip over to Minneapolis every couple of weeks to shop at the Master Bakery "used bread" store. They sell bread that is near the "sell-by" date at half the price. We always stock up on English Muffin Toasting Bread. It's the very best for breakfast toast and also grilled cheese sandwiches, BLT's or French toast. It's basically the only bread we eat.

Ever since I began feeding the flock of turkeys this summer, we had been buying expired bread that they sell for animal feed. We could literally  buy a car trunk full of bread and buns for five dollars. The turkeys happily gobbled it up, along with the squirrels, birds and assorted other animals. It was a feast by the wooded lot twice a day. Little did I know that when they stopped making Twinkies and other Hostess products, it would trickle down to create a problem for my menagerie.

Today, when we asked to buy a cart of stale bread, the gal said they didn't have any. She told us that when Hostess Bakeries closed down, people who had been getting bread at the local Hostess thrift store started coming over to the Master Bread thrift store. She said a man came in one morning who was with an organization that provided food for homeless people. He bought 50 loaves of bread. She said they are clearing out their shelves every day now so there's no leftovers to sell for animals.

It brings home the interconnectedness of everything that happens--and I will miss those yummy Snowballs.

Hostess marshmallow-covered, cream-filled Snowball. They come in lavender for Easter, green for St Patrick's day and orange for Halloween plus white for every-day.

Hidden Valley

The Hidden Valley turkey troop has acquired an 11th member. In the last several days, a little female has been tagging along with the ten others as they stroll around the neighborhood. She must have been from a later hatch, perhaps from another brood as she's noticeably smaller than the others. She also walks with a limp so she's always the last one to reach the food. There's always plenty so she eats well.

 

I don't know if I've mentioned before that my neighborhood is called Hidden Valley. The "valley" was created when a gravel pit was excavated on the north side of a big hill in the early twentieth century. It is about eight blocks long and bounded by a large cemetery on one end and a large greenhouse/nursery on the other. All the streets running south off the main road end in a cul de sac or a turn at the base of the steep, forested slope. The cliff rises 100 feet just a short way from my patio.   

Google image of Hidden Valley, click to enlarge--the small X marks my building. (The tiny car in the driveway in my old car that I crashed two years ago.) Directly north is the wooded lot that my bedroom window overlooks. The trees across the bottom of the image are on the slope. At the top of the slope is a fence surrounding the cemetery. There is a large woodsy area on the east side behind the apartment buildings, as well.

Tonight we will be watching Homeland and Dexter on TV. They are both gripping series we never miss. Last week ended the (old) British series William and Mary and Call the Midwife which we will miss. I'm hoping there will be a new season of Doc Martin coming soon! Martin Clunes is a really likeable guy.

If you feed them, they will come!

I often write about the wooded lot next door and the animal life there. I began putting out pans of water this summer during the drought and it attracted so many birds and animals that I've kept it up.

We also have been putting food out and the crowd of wildlife coming to the "dinner table" on the retaining wall by the wooded lot keeps growing. In addition to the dozen or so squirrels, an assortment of birds and the wild turkeys, there are three opossums, several raccoons and a two foxes. There are an occasional couple of freeloading cats, two cottontail rabbits and four or five deer. Someone down the block dumped their Halloween pumpkins in the wooded lot and the deer come to munch on them. The pumpkin seeds are gobbled up by the squirrels. 

My twelve wild turkeys have shrunk to ten. I suspect that someone poached the missing two--although the foxes may have gotten them. With Thanksgiving next Thursday and roast turkey being the traditional meal, I worry about the rest of them. It's illegal to hunt in the city but someone with a crossbow could sneak up on them. They stroll around the neighborhood all day and they're so used to being around people that it wouldn't be hard.

 

The traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner that I cook every year consists of: roast turkey with herb dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, sweet potato/apple casserole, relish tray with pickles, olives and fresh veggies and dinner rolls. For those who don't eat meat, I also serve salmon (we don't have any vegans). I also make pumpkin pie and another pie. It's a lot of work, but it is sooo good!  

Thanksgiving 2010 (Note dog intently watching platter of turkey!)

October Sunday

We finally got some rain yesterday for the first time in months. It wasn't much, just enough to dampen all the leaves lying all over the ground, but it put me in the rainy day mood to bake some cookies. Of course, I ate a lot of cookies and then felt more depressed because of it.

The flocks of migrating American robins are now gone. Every fall they stop here to eat the dried crabapples off of the trees behind my place. There are other migrating birds stopping too, like white-throated sparrows and cedar waxwings. There is a constant flurry of excited birds while they're here, and then they're suddenly gone.

The only birds around now are the clutch of twelve turkeys who amble through once or twice a day. Some of them have tried to roost up in the tree but there was nothing to eat so they flew down again. I've been setting out pans of water during the drought and they will come up to my patio to get a drink. I haven't been able to get a good picture of them because they are in constant motion.

borrowed image

When all of the leaves fell from the black walnut tree, I noticed there is a new squirrel's nest at the top. Now there are four half-size little squirrels hanging around the tree. I feel sort of responsible for them. I've been feeding the squirrels for years and there are probably a lot more of them living here than if they were having to survive on natural food. I'm a squirrel mama!

          Borrowed image-this was just too cute to pass up!

A few follow-ups

I just spotted the mama turkey over by some trees and all 9 of her chicks are still with her. They look to be half-grown and they're fully feathered now.

                                   (Borrowed image)
Sunny's vestibular disease has not cleared up. He walks around with his head cocked way over to one side. He get disoriented easily but seems to be dealing with it. I'm still worried about him because that's the kinda gal I am!

                      (It seems to have affected his eyes too)
The tomato dumpling soup was not up to expectations. I had previously blogged about how messy and steamy it was to can peaches. As it turns out, making soup from fresh tomatoes is almost as bad! The soup was good but I need a better recipe for the dumplings. I think I'll try it with spaetzle next time!

When I went on Google to find a picture, I found this one that had a recipe attached. Now, who would have thought to go into Google Images to find a recipe!

The family reunion picnic on Saturday. My two cousins on the left and me between my two brothers on the right. We look like a bunch of old people!

I'm melting! I'm melting!

It's pushing 100 degrees again today--like every day for the past week. I have all the drapes closed to keep the sun out but it's a struggle to keep it comfortable, even with fans and the A/C running.

I chopped up an apple and a few other goodies and took a pan of water to set in the shade on the retaining wall by the wooded lot. When I popped open the side door, the mama turkey was only ten feet away. She was panting mightily and all of her poults were too. She promptly led them away from me over to the pine trees. I wanted to call her back, "I've got cool water and food!" But of course, they moved on.

I feel so sad to see all the birds and animal suffering in this heat. I feel so helpless to do anything about it. I just hope she brings them back tonight

I hate to leave on that note, so here's a beautiful, cool juicy carved watermelon to feast your eyes on!

More turkeys

Well, it looks like the tom turkey gobbling outside my bedroom window recently found true love--or it's poultry approximation.

My roomie and I were out on the patio potting some Hen and Chicks that we bought at the nursery when Sue spotted the turkey hen over by the pine trees (where Sunny caught the wood ducklings). Then a tiny chick appeared, followed in quick succession by eight more. They wandered under the protection of the trees and out of sight.

                                 TURKEY AND CHICKS


All of this wildlife must come from the wooded lot next door. I love living here with all the advantages of living in the city and the joy of living near nature!
                                               
                               HEN AND CHICKS

        

Anybody want a turkey?

                             (Borrowed image)
This is a wild turkey. It is big and it is loud--especially when it is going "gobble-gobble" outside my bedroom window at 5:00 in the morning.

What's so weird is that wild turkeys were quite rare until recent years. Now they're running all over the place. You see them walking in city streets and around neighborhoods. Several years ago, there was a pair occupying the green space inside a cloverleaf near the Rosedale Mall. They were so distracting the police came and moved them away.

This particular one has staked out my neighborhood as his territory. I don't know if he gobbles to attract a mate or if he is just "strutting his stuff", but he seems fearless. He rests on the neighbor's patios and patrols the tree lines as though he owned the place--and I suppose in his mind, he does!